Hospital bed



April 10, 1945.

N. O. NELSON HOSPITAL BED Filed July 17, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet l INV ENTOR 7V. 0. JVZson FTTYS P 1945- N. o. NELSON 2,373,590

HOSPITAL BED Filed July 17, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JV. 0. 11 825012 wmrmb HTTYS April 10, 1945. I O L N 2,373,590

HOSPITAL BED Filed July 17, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Rigid g, I I l l l l I I i L 11 1 0 4 9 11 INVENTOR' M 0. JWeZson I Patented Apr. 10, 1945 STAT sf PATEN HOSPITAL 1115 'Nels O. Nelson, Sacramento, Calif.

943,'Serial No. 495,199

Application July" 1'7,

it t .sfl-ciaim-s. This invention relates in general to improvements in hospital beds, and in particular the. in-

usual; Icy-means of attachment brackets 4. The

frame and spring assembl l terminate at corre' vention is directed to, and it is an objectto pro-- vide, a hospital bed whichincludes in chmbina- ,tion with'a fracture frame, a novel, manually controlled arrangement to effect raising and lowering' of saidframe and the'patient thereon when necessary. While hereshownas an attachment to a bed, the device of course maytbeincluded as a unitary and initial part of the bed.

I Another object of the invention a device of the character described which includes slides secured in connection with the [fracture 1 frame and mounted for vertical movement, and meansto efiect simultaneous up or down move- 1 ment of said Slides; said means including a rack and pinion assembly, and a hydraulic jack connected in operative or actuating relation to said assembly.

A further object is to provide a deviceas'in the preceding paragraph including guided flexible cables or the like connected to said slides, in supported relation to the latter, the rack and pinion assembly being arranged to cause movement of saidcables in an up or down direction selectively.

A further'object of the invention is to provide a simpleand compactdevice, andjyet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

- These'objects I accomplish by means" of suchv structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear bya perusal of the following specifioationand claims. I In thedrawings-similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

i0 is to provide sponding ends in clearance relation to the head and foot units 2' and 3. Theabove is a conveni tionalhospital bed and includes a mat-tress 5 disposed on the frame and spring assembly I. certain instances where the patient; is whollydis abled, due to a serious fracture'or the like, a device known as a fracture frameG is disposed rigid borderingfra'me andia fabricb'ed supported thereby; such fracture frame being ra sed and lowered as necessary to attend to the patient. My

invention-relates to the mechanism employed to raise and lower such fractureframe, and Iinake no claim to'the latter.

closelyadjacent; but inwardly of' b'oth the head unit 2 and foot unit, 3 of thebe'd -I mount frame structures A and B respectively, each of which includes a pair of horizontallyyertically sp'aced' cross beams I whichare secured together a djacent their endsby means of vertically disposed inwardly" facing channel members 8, the. spacing of said channel members transversely of the'bed being substantially equal to the width of the fracture frame 6 and the channels opening away from the adjacent-bed unit; 'The' frame struc turesiof cross beams I and channeIsB are'supe 30 ported from the head unit 2 and foot unit Sb'y Figure lis a foreshortened side elevation of a hospitalbed'embodying my invention. 7

Figure 2 is an elevation of the foot of the bed, detached and looking from the inside, showing the correspondingparts of the, invention. Figure 3 is an elevation of the head of thebed, detached and looking from the inside, showing the corresponding parts of the invention.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view showing oneof the cable drums, partly broken away, and the manner of attachment of the cablesthereto,

Figure 5 is an enlarged cross section on line 5- -5 of Fig. 2. f t Referring now moreparticularly to the characters of reference ofn the drawings, the numeral I indicates ah spitalbed frame and spring assembly supported'at one end by a head unit, indicated generallv'at 2; and a foot unit,-indicated generally at 3; the frame and spring assembly being connected to the head and foot units, as is 65 Vertical movement ofthe slides II the fracture means of hooks 9 which extend from thejcr'oss beams 1 at transversely spaced points and'engage over corresponding cross'rails ill of the head and foot unit respectively. W l in present embodiment I removably support the frame structures by hooks'S, such structures could, if desired, be permanently attached to and formed as anintegral part of thehead and foot units of thebe'd. In'each of the channelsjlll mount a vertically movable slide I 1 which is formed, in section, to

symmetrically engage within the chann eLfas the adjacent and corresponding'ncorner"of the fracture frame 6. i

It will be apparent that upon simultaneous and on top of the mattress and-comprises generally a My invention comprises the followingstrflicturei frame 6 will be correspondingly moved relative to the mattress 5; such simultaneous movement of the slides I I being accomplished through the medium of the following mechanism;

A horizontal shaft I6 is journaled in connecttion with and extends between the channels 8 of the frame structure B corresponding to foot unit 3, said shaft having drums I1 fixed thereon at its ends. Cables l8 are secured at their upper ends to the periphery of drum l1 and depend in the channel of the correspondingslides II to connection with said slides at their lower ends. Other cables I9 are likewise connected to the periphery of drums H for winding thereabout in the same direction as cables IS; the cables 19 extending from drums l1 lengthwise of the bed to a point adjacent the head unit 2 and thence pass over pulleys 20 secured in connection with the channels 8 of the corresponding frame structure A. From pulleys 20 cables l9 depend in the channel of the adjacent slides II and are connected to the lower ends of the latter. With rotation of shaft [6 in a direction to rotate drums 11, as shown by the arrow in Fig. 4, the cables l8 and i9 and wound on the corresponding drums, simul claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. Elevating mechanism for a separate vertically movable, patient supporting frame on a hospital bed which includes a head unit, a foot unit, and a mattress frame spaced at its ends from corresponding ones of said units, a frame structure mounted on both the head and foot units in said space and including a pair of upstanding, transversely spaced channels, slides secured in said channels for vertical movement, means connecting the upper ends of said slides with the vertically movable frame, a pulley journaled adjacent each slide, the pair of pulleys corresponding to the foot unit being connected by a shaft, cables connected to the periphery of said pair of pulleys and depending to connection with corresponding slides, other cables connected to said pair of pulleys for winding thereabout in the same direction as said first named cables, said other cables extending intermediate their ends over the pulleys correspond- 7 ing to the slides at the head unit and depending taneously raising all the slides H and consequently the fracture frame 6.. The shaft [6 is forcefully and positively rotated in such direction by means of the following arrangement:

A pair of spaced vertical angle members 2| are secured in adjacent parallel relation to the cross beam 1 of the frame structure 13; said angle members extending downwardly to a point adjacent but clear of the floor level, and at their lower ends said angle members are connected by a U-shaped support 22. A self-holding hydraulic jack 23 is fixed in connection with and upstands from support 22, the piston/rod or plunger 23a of said jack projecting upwardly and being secured in rigid connection with a slidably mounted rack 24 which engages with a pinion 25 secured on shaft I6 between a pair of shaft supporting plates 26 mounted on angle members 21. A brace rod 21 extends from a top cross member 28 downwardly to the jack support 22. The jack is of a conventional type and includes an actuating pedal 29 which projects outwardly from the lower end of the bed-foot unit 3, while a spring-returned jack releasing pedal 30 extends laterally from the jack.

When the actuating pedal 29 is reciprooated up and down by a persons foot, the plunger 23a is raised and in turn the rack 24 causes rotation of pinion 25 and shaft 16 in a fracture-frame elevating direction. When the fracture frame has been raised to the desired extent, the jack, which is self-holding, maintains the frame in such position. To lower the frame the pedal 30 is depressed, whereupon the plunger 23a, together with the related or connected parts, may return to their normal or initial position, and which results due to the weight of the patient on the fracture frame. I

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be restorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I therefrom to connection with said slides, a selfhclding manually controlled jack mounted on the frame structure corresponding to the foot unit, a rack connected to said jack for movement by the latter, and a pinion on said shaft in mesh with the rack, whereby upon operation of the jack the rack will operate the pinion to impart rotary movement to the shaft to respectively wind or unwind the cables on the shaft pulleys and thus correspondingly move the slides up or down to raise or lower the mattress frame.

2. Elevating mechanism for a vertically movable patient supporting frame on a hospital bed, such mechanism including a pair of transversely spaced, upstanding slides mounted for vertical movement adjacent each end of the bed and each slide being connected at its upper end to said frame, a pulley mounted adjacent each slide above the lower end thereof, a cable connected with the lower end of each slide and passing over its corresponding pulley, and means to exert a pull on all the cables simultaneously; such last named means including a shaft connected in diiving relation to the two pulleys at one end of the bed, the two cables at one side of the bed being both secured to the driven pulley on that side, and means to impart rotation to the shaft; such latter means comprising a pinion on the shaft, a movable rack engaging the pinion, and a jack to impart movement to the rack and thence to the shaft through the pinion.

3. Elevating mechanism for a vertically movable patient supporting frame on a hospital bed which includes a head unit and a foot'unit spaced from the frame, a pair of upstanding transversely spaced channel members interposed in each of the spaces between the head and foot members and the frame, respectively, vertically spaced and horizontally extending cross beams on each pair of channels, outwardly extending hooks on such beams, cross rails on the head and foot units, such hooks engaging said rails. slides secured in said channel members for vertical movement therein, means connecting the upper ends of said slides with'the patient supporting frame, and means for simultaneously raising or lowering all of the slides to correspondingly raise or lower such frame.

NELS O. NELSON. 

